This application claims priority from Japanese patent application No. Hei 10-372216; the substance of which is incorporated herein.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sealing structure of a door weather strip, and more particularly to a sealing structure for effecting a seal between the door weather strip and a periphery of a vehicle door, to which the door weather strip is attached.
2. Description of Related Art
As illustrated in FIG. 1, a door weather strip (hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9cweather stripxe2x80x9d) 10 is continuously attached to a door frame 12 and door panel 14 of a vehicle door 16 over the entire periphery thereof. In the drawing, reference numeral 18 designates a door glass.
As illustrated in FIGS. 2(A) and 2(B), the weather strip 10 includes a base portion 20, tubular main seal portion 24 and seal lip 28. The base portion 20 is attached to a peripheral surface 22 of the door frame 12 and door panel 14 (FIG. 1). The tubular main seal portion 24 comes into pressing contact with a surface 26 around a door opening when the door 16 is closed. The seal lip 28 projects outwardly and abuts an inner surface of a door projecting edge 30 formed around the door frame 12 and door panel 14 (FIG. 1). A roof-side part 10A of the weather strip 10, which is to be attached to a roof-side part 12A of the door frame 12, is further provided with a sub-seal lip 32 which is adapted to come into pressing contact with an outside surface 34 around the door opening when the door 16 is closed.
Conventionally, the weather strip 10 has been attached to the door 16 by securing the base portion 20 to the peripheral surface 22 of the door frame 12 using clips at predetermined intervals.
However, if only clips are used, gaps may exist between the bottom surface of the base portion 20 of the weather strip and peripheral surface 22 of the door frame 12 between the adjacent clips.
In addition, another gap may be generated between the seal lip 28 and the door projecting edge 30 depending on how the weather strip 10 is positioned to the door frame 12. Rain water, washing water or the like may leak into the vehicle compartment through these gaps.
Such water leakage may be prevented by bonding the base portion 20 to the peripheral surface 22 closely with a double-sided adhesive tape 36, as illustrated in FIGS. 2(A) and 2(B).
However, bonding the weather strip 10 with the double-sided adhesive tape (hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9cadhesive tapexe2x80x9d) 36, requires that the adhesive tape be previously bonded to the base portion 20 of the weather strip 10, and that the base portion 20 be pressed on the peripheral surface 22 of the door frame 14 via the adhesive tape 36 while peeling off a releasing sheet therefrom. Additionally, this bonding work must be carried out carefully so as to not allow the adhesive tape 36 to meander. Thus, troublesome operations are required, and the production costs are increased, as compared to the case using clips.
On the other hand, in the vertical parts of the periphery of the door 16, water which has leaked between the seal lip 28 and door projecting edge 30 flows down along the vertically extending peripheral surface 22 and discharges outside of the vehicle. Therefore, if the weather strip is attached to the vertical parts of the door 16 with clips, leaked water does not enter into the vehicle compartment.
From this fact, the following attaching method would seem possible. The weather strip 10 is attached to the roof-side part 12A and corner part 12C of the door frame 12 with the adhesive tape 36, and is attached to the remaining part of the periphery of the door with clips. With this method, troublesome adhesive tape-bonding operations can be decreased, and the production costs can be reduced, as compared to the method using the adhesive tape over the entire length of the door frame.
However, using the adhesive tape in both the roof-side part 12A and the corner part 12C of the door frame exhibits another problem. The bottom surface of the base portion 20 of the weather strip 10, which is bonded with the adhesive tape 36, is raised from the peripheral surface 22 of the door frame 12 by an amount corresponding to the thickness of the adhesive tape 36. Consequently, a tunnel-like opening 64 is created at an end of the adhesive tape 36 (hereinafter referred as xe2x80x9ctape endxe2x80x9d), which is located in a vertical side of the corner part 12C between the bottom surface of the base portion 20 and the door frame 12, as shown in FIG. 1. The tunnel-like opening is greater than the gap generated due to the clips so that water flowing down along the peripheral surface 22 of the door frame 12 may partly enter the tunnel-like opening 64, and intrude into the vehicle compartment.
In FIGS. 2(A) and 2(B), the base portion 20 is provided with beads 38 along both side edges thereof. The height of the beads 38 is made less than the thickness of the adhesive tape 36 such that the beads 38 do not abut the peripheral surface 22 of the door frame 12 when the adhesive tape 36 is pressed on the peripheral surface 22 of the door frame 12. Consequently, the beads 38 do not prevent water from leaking into the vehicle compartment through the tunnel-like opening 64.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a sealing structure of a door weather strip, and more particularly a door weather strip wherein one part is attached to a door frame with a double-sided adhesive tape, and a remaining part is attached to a remaining part of the vehicle door with clips at predetermined intervals, such that water is prevented from leaking into a vehicle compartment through a gap formed between a periphery of the door frame and the door weather strip.
In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the base portion of the door weather strip is attached with double-sided adhesive tape to a periphery of a vehicle door so as to be bonded to a roof-side part of a vehicle door frame and a corner part, which curves from the roof-side part to a pillar-side part thereof, and secured to a remaining part of the vehicle door with clips at predetermined intervals.
The weather strip has a seal lip for abutment on an inner surface of a door projecting edge projecting from the periphery of a vehicle door. The seal lip is formed in an outer side surface of the weather strip. The weather strip has a secondary seal lip for abutment on the inner surface of the door projecting edge under and along the above-described seal lip. The secondary seal lip is formed as part of the corner part of the weather strip, which is to be attached to the corner part of the door frame, and surrounds an outer side edge of the base portion.
With the sealing structure of the present invention, water leaking between the seal lip and door peripheral edge is received by the secondary seal lip and flows down along a vertical side of the secondary seal lip instead of being caught in a tunnel-like opening between the base portion of the door weather strip and the door frame along the end of the adhesive tape. Then, water is discharged from a vertical end thereof.
Other objects, features, and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent upon consideration of the following description and the appended claims with reference to the accompanying drawings, all of which form a part of this specification.